Deceit or Incompetence?

Deceit or Incompetence?

By: Ryan Young

Last week I listened closely to Finance Minister, Tom Osborne, during a call with Paddy Daly on the VOCM Open Line show. Mr. Osborne spoke at length about how his government was ready to play hardball with Nalcor, and extricate answers about the project's finances from the board and/or CEO Stan Marshall. At certain points during the conversation, the new minister sounded quite a bit like the old minister, and the tough talk that she had for Nalcor on Budget day 2016. We have heard plenty of tough talk since the Liberals took office in late 2015, but what do we really have to show for it, and what has changed?

More and more people are waking up to the monumental mismanagement and possible corruption afoot within the Muskrat Falls project. Our government, on the other hand, seems to be working as hard as ever to misdirect the public and ensure that the project is finished without the taxpayers ever knowing what really happened to all of that money. The Liberal’s are happy to keep themselves hitched to the “previous administration” bandwagon, feigning ignorance and blaming the old government for everything wrong with the project. Unfortunately, nobody on team red seems to realize that by playing dumb, they are leading the public to believe that they are really as incompetent as the opposition says they are.

The most telling part of Minister Osborne’s VOCM conversation was when he told Mr. Daly that he was in the presence of the premier when he learned about the massive cost of embedded contractors being used by Nalcor. He claimed the premier was upset about the lack of transparency regarding the use of these contractors, and told us that Ball is committed to a public inquiry on Muskrat Falls. The question he didn’t answer, however, was did the CEO, the Minister of Natural Resources, and/or the Premier know about the extent of the use of these contractors before James McLeod broke the story in The Telegram?

The Liberals have been in power for nearly 2 years. They have brought in a new CEO and Board of Directors for Nalcor, they have claimed to have beefed up government oversight of the project, and they have paid millions of dollars to Ernst and Young to study and report on the finances of Muskrat Falls. They publicly claim that the administration knew nothing about the project management team being made up of 90% contractors or that they had billed Nalcor for $4.6 million hours of work. By telling us that the government was in the dark on this issue proves one of two things. Either our government is directly lying to us about Muskrat Falls or they are so completely incompetent, that in 2 years they have not even managed to identify this glaring issue on their own.

While most people could easily latch-on to the incompetence theory, it is quite unlikely that nobody in the decision-making process was aware of the billing free-for-all that was going on right under their noses. Despite what Ball might be spinning to the public, the issue of embedded contractors seemed to be passing the small test just fine until someone in the media remembered how to do some investigative journalism.

So where does that leave us? Mere hours after the backlash from The Telegram story began to bombard government, Ball announced that a Muskrat Falls inquiry would happen, and that he had reached out to the various departments for help in drafting the terms of reference. While that is great news on the surface, as Uncle Gnarley and others have pointed out, ordering an inquiry before a complete forensic audit of the project is completed is rather like putting the cart before the horse. The other concern many have about a possible inquiry, is that if the leadership group was telling the truth about their lack of knowledge and understanding of the project finances, then how can we trust them to draft terms of reference that will actually reveal the truth about Muskrat Falls?

I’d really like to believe the premier when he says that he and his government are committed to getting to the bottom of the Muskrat money pit, but words are just that, words, and actions speak so much louder. Take for instance the Ball’s concern over the standoff at the Muskrat camp and  the three hunger strikers from Labrador that forced the government's hand last fall. After a marathon meeting with indigenous leaders, a deal was reached in which further mitigation measures were promised. In a letter from the Nunatsiavut government that was released yesterday, President Johannes Lampe made it very clear that after several meetings with government and Nalcor, those promises of additional mitigation measures will not be honored.

Ball stood in front of reporters after the meeting last fall and told the province that the meeting was about one thing, the health of Labradoreans. He also said that going forward, their decisions would be based on science and research and that his government was committed to working with aboriginal leaders and that he was “confident” that they could achieve the goals that were outlined in the agreement.

While a big to-do was made about a chair being appointed and terms of reference drafted for the promised independent expert advisory council (IEAC), it was made very clear from Lampe’s letter that there was never any intention of lowering water levels so that additional mitigation measures could proceed. Indigenous leaders were told during a meeting with the premier and other provincial officials on September 6^th that water levels in the reservoir would be raised to 25m this fall, and once they reached that point they would not be lowered again.

Dwight Ball already has a huge credibility problem. He has failed to be honest with the people of this province at every opportunity. Despite their best efforts of getting out in the media and telling people they are going to do something positive, they can’t hide from their record, and the revelations brought forth by Johannes Lampe just further prove that this premier will say anything to ensure that Muskrat Falls goes ahead.

Deceit or pure incompetence? Either way, Ball and his government seem to be willing to throw away every shred of their credibility in order to deliberately mislead the people of this province about Muskrat Falls. The real question is: How long will we, the people, continue to stand for it?

Auditing the Truth

Auditing the Truth

By: Ryan Young

It has been a crazy couple of weeks in the world of #nlpoli. This good rogue took to the wilderness for a few days, sans cell phone or internet, and when I returned to civilization I could hardly believe how much I had missed in just a few short days. There has been a lot of information to digest and to ponder, but one thing that seems quite clear is that nobody appears to have any interest in taking any accountability for the problems with Nalcor and Muskrat Falls.

It’s hard to know where to start. We had a new report released on Muskrat Falls that outlines even more cost overruns, now putting the price tag at $12.7 Billion. We also had the premier saying that he will commit to an audit or inquiry of some sort, but not really. Then there was a release of an old SNC Lavelin report from 2013 outlining probable cost overruns that the premier claims the former CEO of Nalcor ignored and that Ed Martin claims he never saw. And finally, we have Danny Williams firing both barrels at the Liberal Government and Nalcor, calling the current CEO, Stan Marshall, a “boondoggle buffoon,” and calling allegations around the SNC report “bullshit.” Through it all we, the taxpayers, are left scratching our heads and wondering just what the hell is going on in this province.

A poll released on June 20th by CRA showed that for the first time, the majority of NL residents were against the Muskrat Falls project. Surprisingly though, 40% of respondents still supported the project but that number will likely drop when hydro rate increases kick in next week. It will dwindle even more when the full impacts of the project begin to hit people in their wallets when/if Muskrat Falls ever comes online. While protests in Labrador continue to grow in size and intensity, there seems to be a new groundswell of dissent happening on the island now as well. People are already wondering how they will make ends meet when their bills double and more than ever we are seeing a push-back from the public at large against the project as a whole.

While there have been no shortage of experts speaking out against the project, it was especially painful to hear former premier Brian Peckford express his dismay that once again, Labrador power would be enjoyed by another province at much lower rates than the people of NL. Emera customers in Nova Scotia will enjoy much lower rates than NL customers for the same power from a project funded entirely from our tax dollars. It is certainly an epic fail of smallwoodian proportions, and Peckford, who spent his entire political career fighting against resource giveaways, can only lament the direction our subsequent premiers have taken us, and wonder how different things might have been if he had been given the same financial resources to work with.

With all of the political pressure and negative press, even the usually slow to catch on Liberals are able to see that the public is no longer willing to buy the platitudes about cheap power and projected revenues from the sale of spot power on the US market. Instead, they have changed their tune and are now talking about things like rate mitigation, while always continuing to point the red finger of blame at those dastardly Tories who got us into this mess. It might even work too if ole Dwight was willing to open things up to a full forensic audit to expose the inner dealings of the sanctioning of the province to satisfy the nagging questions many people have about whether the endless delays and cost overruns are the result of corruption or just pure incompetence. For some reason, the premier seems to see no value in getting to the bottom of things, despite his constant finger wagging. By playing the blame game without utilizing the options available to him to try to make things right, Ball is planting seeds of doubt in the public, leaving them to wonder what the premier might be hiding or who he might be protecting.

I’m not suggesting that the premier is doing anything wrong, but when you fail to be transparent and accountable to the electorate, there tends to be an element of distrust that hangs around like a bad odour. All the premier needs to do to get rid of that Muskrat sized cloud that is hanging over him and his government is to be open and transparent. There is absolutely no good reason not to immediately order a complete forensic audit and Ball’s reasons for dithering are absurd to the point of bordering on pathetic. An audit would in no way compromise the continuation of construction at the site and it would not have any bearing on any future costs or delays. All the premier is trying to do is say enough words to make it look like he intends to do something, without actually saying anything at all that would commit him to taking any sort of real action. With so many questions and allegations hanging over the project the only responsible thing left to do is to order the audit and let the truth speak for itself.

The main narrative that Ball and Siobhan Coady will continue to push is that they will review the project after the fact. The main problems with that are that a) it does nothing to help restore the confidence of the public in the project, and b) it is a very strong possibility that Dwight Ball and his government will no longer be in power by the time the project is completed and therefore will never have the opportunity to order an audit or review. The ideal time for a forensic audit would have been in early 2016, right after the election. Openness and transparency surrounding Muskrat Falls was a major part of the Liberal platform after all. Of course, that didn’t happen, but there is still time for Ball and company to do the right thing and open the project up to the full scrutiny of an independent body. The time has come. C’mon premier Ball, let’s make it happen…

The Strange and Sad Story of Beatrice Hunter

The Strange and Sad Story of Beatrice Hunter

By: Ryan Young

Like many people across Newfoundland and Labrador, I have been following Beatrice Hunter’s story very closely over the last two weeks. For those who may not be aware, Beatrice Hunter is an Inuk grandmother and Land Protector who is presently being held in custody at the penitentiary in St. John’s for refusing to stay away from the Muskrat Falls site.

On May 29^th, during a court hearing for Protectors who broke an injunction to stay away from the Muskrat Falls site during Victoria Day Weekend, Judge George Murphy asked Hunter if she would promise to stay away from the protest site. Hunter told the judge she could not make that promise and as a result she was remanded into custody.

The story took another turn on June 2^nd when it was learned that Hunter had been transferred to Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s. Since then, there has been a large public outcry at Hunter’s incarceration, including protests at Nalcor headquarters and outside of HMP. In Labrador, fellow Protectors have held vigils and rallied for Beatrice’s release, and there is a large rally planned for Thursday at Colonial Building in St. John’s.

For the government, this has become another case of very bad optics. While most people seem to agree that they should not interfere with the judicial system, the fact that the injunction itself came from Nalcor makes the government responsible for Beatrice Hunter’s incarceration. They had they option of telling Nalcor to back off from the charges against the Protectors but chose not to do so. Now, with Hunter’s defiance, they have painted themselves into a corner that can have no positive political outcome.

I don’t think that Hunter intentionally tried to make a martyr of herself, but in many ways, she has become one. Many people across the province were upset with the treatment of the Land Protectors who were charged for standing up against Nalcor, and when Hunter was transferred to HMP, the cries of colonialism out of Labrador began to grow in volume and urgency. When our justice system takes an indigenous grandmother away from her family and her home for exercising her rights to protest, it leaves many wondering just what our priorities are.

Despite the many socio-political issues at play, we can’t ignore the fact that Beatrice did break the law. No matter how much we may not like the law sometimes, we can’t blame those whose job it is to enforce it. She left the judge little choice when she refused to stay away from the site, and under the law he felt compelled to do something. What that something was, however, is the issue at hand.The discussion should not be whether or not Beatrice should be punished under the law, it should be whether or not the punishment fits the crime. Hunter is a law-abiding citizen who has never been in trouble with the courts before and her only crime was protesting what she believed to be an injustice against her people. It does not seem unreasonable to think that there could have been another solution that could have been explored instead of sending this grandmother to the pen.

The whole situation is very, very sticky. In addition to Beatrice’s direct story, it also touches on issues of overcrowding in our prisons and the differential treatment of protesters on the island vs those in Labrador. I understand the importance of not having the government interfere with the justice system, but at this point it seems inevitable that they will have to act in some capacity. Hunter is due back in court on Friday and if she continues to be held at HMP, the disgruntled murmur from the public will soon turn into an angry roar. There are options, and Andrew Parson’s should be exploring every possibility of how to get Beatrice home. Considering all the talk about truth and reconciliation in this country, we need our leaders to take a stand and ensure that we are doing everything we can to protect the rights of aboriginal women.

In a video released by CBC on June 6^th from inside HMP, Hunter expressed the major frustration that she and many other Land Protectors have with Nalcor. A lack of answers to their questions. This highlights the larger issue of the lack of openness and accountability when it comes to the Muskrat Falls project. Despite promising to open the project up to public scrutiny, the Liberal’s have become even more secretive than the previous administration was and are refusing to release any reports from the oversight committee. The message being sent by government via Nalcor to the people of Labrador is don’t ask questions and don’t try to get in our way or you will end up in jail. I don’t think they were betting on the defiance of someone like Beatrice Hunter to turn public opinion against them.

No matter how this story turns out,  irreparable damage has already been done to an already strained relationship between the government and the people of Labrador. The Smallwoodian “develop or perish” attitude seems to be alive and well with the current incarnation of Liberal leaders, and the steamrolling of the Muskrat Falls project without the support of the people living in Labrador will not soon be forgotten. The intimidation of Nalcor will always be seen as the strong arm of government against the people living downstream of mighty Muskrat and the dam will continue to enforce the idea of colonialism that is spreading through the big land like wildfire. There is no political value in having Beatrice Hunter locked up, and the first thing this government needs to do to start repairing the rift is to send her home. The second thing they need to do is start listening to people like Beatrice and start giving them the answers they have been demanding. That doesn't seem like too much to ask for...

Priorities, Journalism, and Justice

Priorities, Journalism, and Justice

By: Ryan Young

Priorities

Maybe it’s just me, but I had a real problem when 28 Labrador Land Protectors were served charges for their parts in the protests against the Muskrat Falls hydro development on the Lower Churchill River. My issue was not with the charges themselves, although I personally think they are unnecessary. The protectors who stormed the gate and stayed on site last fall to protect their right to clean water and traditional food sources knew there was a very good chance that they would face legal consequences for their actions and they made a conscious choice to defy the court injunction and occupy the site.

What really gets  my back up about this case is that just a few weeks earlier, a former RCMP officer  in Labrador who was charged with child luring had his charges stayed because it took an unreasonable amount of time for the accused to go to trial. Judge John Joy noted in his decision that he was bound by legal precedent to stay the charges, and that despite exemplary work by officers and technicians, they could only operate within the limited scope of the resources of their respective offices.

So how is it that the court system in Labrador is too overworked and under resourced to properly manage a high-profile case involving a police officer in a serious breach of trust, but it can handle the load of 28 new complex cases that will use up even more resources and cash in a system already busting at the seams. Is making an example of these 28 a move to discourage more acts of the sort that we saw last October? When such an important case such as child luring against a police officer is thrown out because of a lack of resources and then a few short weeks later we see 28 names of people trying to protect their way of life added to the docket, it has many people asking just what the priorities are at the Department of Justice and Public Safety in St. John’s.

When is Journalism a Crime?

Justin Brake of The Independent is answering to charges for his role in covering the occupation of the Muskrat Falls work camp by Labrador Land Protectors last October. Brake has stated that he believed he was completely within his rights as a journalist to follow the protectors through the gate to document the real story of what was happening during a very tense time for the whole province. Brake’s reporting and live streaming of the events inside the camp often painted a different picture than was being put forth by Nalcor and the government. It allowed the world to see the protectors being welcomed with open arms into the camp and that there was never any talk of violence. While there has been precedent for such charges in the past, such as the Oka standoff in the 90's, many feel that in a case such as Brake’s where a journalist is the sole documenter of a story in the public and national interest, the rights of the journalist to cover the story must be protected.

When the powers that be in our justice system decided to go ahead with the charges against Brake, they began walking a very fine line. The story is beginning to get traction with journalists all over the world who are waiting to see what the outcome will be. Brake is officially facing charges of mischief exceeding $5000 and disobeying a court order. The charges come with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.   Many in Labrador feel that the charges against Brake and the Land Protectors are an intimidation tactic by the government to ensure that there are no more protests like we saw last fall. What they don’t seem to understand is that they are seeding deep feelings of resentment in the residents of Labrador that might very well inspire more action in the name of justice.

Using the court system to strong arm the people of Labrador is one thing, but when the decision was made to charge Brake for his coverage of the story, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador have opened up a can of worms that they will not be able to control for much longer. As the story gains international traction, more and more groups are condemning the government’s actions and demanding that the charges against Brake be dropped. The government, however, seems to be holding firm and letting Gilbert Bennett and the other top Nalcor brass run the show. Muskrat Falls must be protected at all costs, even if it means potentially facing years of expensive litigation against our government for failing to protect Justin Brake’s journalistic rights.

Justice?

We have been talking quite a bit about justice in this province lately. From controversial verdicts, to overcrowded courts and prisons, to the need for new legislation to catch up with our modern times. There is much work to be done, and it will take more than one government to bring our justice system in line with the needs of the people. We have seen several cases where charges were stayed because the accused had not been given timely access to a trial. This has led to much discussion about the R vs Jordan decision last summer where it was ruled that there would be a ceiling of eighteen months for provincial court cases and thirty months for supreme court cases, after which time a defendant may make a motion to have the charges against them stayed. We saw this happen in the case I mentioned about the RCMP officer above, and it has been causing havoc for court systems all across the country who are scrambling to keep up with the new guidelines.

Justice and Public Safety Minister, Andrew Parsons, has said on record that the province will not be hiring any new judges to handle the caseloads, so that means that the province will need to look at other ways to find efficiencies and get cases to court in a timely fashion. It is no secret that our court system is already perilously under resourced, and with the Jordan decision adding even more pressure we can expect even more high profile cases to have charges stayed before they get their day in court.

All of that makes the decision to proceed against charging Brake and the Land Protectors even more curious. Most people I know would agree that if you break the law, you will face consequences, but how does that work when you are up against the people making the laws? It was the government via Nalcor that petitioned the court injunction that denied the Land Protectors the right to protest for their own safety and the very water that they depend on for life and culture. When an MP from town tells the people in Labrador that depend on the river that they should just “eat less fish,” it just emphasises the disconnect between the folks in fancy offices in St. John’s who only care about the economics of the project and the politics behind it and the people on the ground who feel that they are in a legitimate life and death battle with their government.

At the end of the day, the people of this province are feeling let down by their justice system. They are losing confidence in the police and in the courts and they are left to wonder just what the priorities are for this government. In Labrador, people are left to feel that their justice system is being used against them and they have lost all faith that the government is there to protect them. Where is the justice for the people of Labrador?

Time to Come Clean

Time to Come Clean

By: Ryan Young

It was a bitter pill for many to swallow last week when the premier finally confirmed that the principal beneficiary of the Muskrat Falls project would not be NL, it would be Nova Scotia and Emera. It becomes even harder to swallow when you consider that the entire reason for going through Nova Scotia in the first place was to give the finger to Quebec and ensure that we would be the ones to benefit from our own energy production. Danny’s $7 Billion-dollar tantrum will likely turn into a $20 billion dollar noose before a kilowatt of power ever flows from the Lower Churchill River, if indeed it ever flows at all.

At the time of sanction, we were told that Emera’s generous Maritime Link deal was good for this province because it would ensure access to southern energy markets without having profits hijacked by Hydro Quebec. It was an easy sell to a province that never got over the bad deal on the Upper Churchill. Unfortunately, as the project has progressed and bits and pieces of the truth about Muskrat Falls have been dragged out of politicians, it seems like in our effort to screw Quebec, we sold the farm to Nova Scotia.

The premier came clean in the House of Assembly on March 9^th, telling the province that Emera’s share in the Labrador-Island-Link (LIL) had risen from 29% to 59%. Ball was quick to shift the blame to the PC’s saying that "This was not my idea. This was not the idea of anyone on this particular side of the house." While that might be true, it still doesn’t explain why it took a premier who campaigned on openness and transparency 16 months to let the people of the province know that they wouldn’t even own a majority share of the LIL, despite the fact that the ratepayers would be the ones covering the cost overruns. Emera will enjoy an 8.8% return on their investment, with zero extra financial risk to them, and all paid for out of your rising hydro bills.

How could this happen? Well, as the Uncle Gnarley blog has been saying for quite a long time, ratepayers in Nova Scotia were protected by their public utility board, the UARB. The UARB ensured that their stakeholders would get the best deal possible, and even sent Emera back to the bargaining table to make sure that Nova Scotia would get a better deal than the original 20/20 deal signed by Danny Williams. Our own PUB has had no such oversight and has been shrouded in secrecy as far as Muskrat Falls is concerned. As pointed out in this recent Uncle Gnarley post, the PUB didn’t even have the terms reference to look at the Emera deal during their 2012 review.

With Danny’s hand-picked puppet, Andy Wells, at the helm, the PUB has failed to protect Newfoundland and Labrador ratepayers and has not offered any sort of meaningful oversight for the Muskrat project at all. It will be interesting to see if Wells will throw his hat into the ring for St. John’s mayor again this fall. With Dannyland aka Galway nearing its initial opening dates, good King Danny may need a puppet more in City Hall than at the PUB. Now that Dwight Ball and Cathy Bennett have made it quite clear that it will be business as usual at Nalcor, Danny can breath a sigh of relief, and Wells’ work at the PUB is done.

For an $800 Million dollar investment, Emera will earn an annual profit of $70.4 million for at least 50 years. That should finally kill the myth that Dwight and all the premiers before him have perpetuated that there will be profits for NL from Muskrat energy. In case anyone out there is still confused, there will be NO profit from the sale of Muskrat Falls power, other than what the rate payers will be forced to pay each month on their electricity bills. Then Why didn’t the PUB raise any alarms over such a deal? How could they have remained silent and secretive when we were knowingly selling ourselves up the river in the name of getting Muskrat built or bust. Sadly, it looks like even if it does ever get built, it will still be a bust for the people of NL.

So, if we can’t trust Nalcor or government and we can’t trust the PUB, who do the people of NL have to turn to? As good as the PC’s have been in the official opposition role, you will not hear them ask any tough questions about Muskrat for obvious reasons. The NDP have done a fairly good job of asking tough questions, but with such a small caucus their attack is limited and their questions almost always get blown off with spin by the premier and his ministers who know that they only have to be a little long-winded and wait out the clock. Paul Lane has done an admirable job of engaging the public and raising major issues in the media, but with limited resources and no questions in question period, it has been difficult for him to get the government to acknowledge the issues at hand when it comes to Nalcor and Muskrat Falls. The Auditor General is currently investigating Nalcor, but with only a small team and limited resources and no clear mandate from the premier, it could take years just to go through the books, let alone all of the other issues that deserve a look.

Where does that leave us? If people want answers, they will need to stand up and demand them. They will need to find a way to force the government into opening up Nalcor and the Muskrat Falls project in particular. While many have been very vocal, many more seem to be perfectly fine with allegations that could possibly include criminal acts, and at the very least the squandering of billions from the provincial treasury. In a recent poll, however, for the first time since it began, more people were against Muskrat Falls than were for it. This proves that people are willing to change their minds, when given a chance to look at the facts.

When Dwight Ball promised openness and accountability for Nalcor, people expected more than just asking their buddies at EY to do an expensive study on the cost. Why hasn’t the premier opened things up and come clean with the people of the province? He is quick to point fingers at the PC’s every chance he gets, but he has the power to reveal the truth about Muskrat and he refuses to do so. Why? By opening it up and showing the people the truth of the extent that we will be burdened by Muskrat Falls, they might even be able to earn enough credibility to keep a couple of seats in 2019. Instead, they have decided to keep us all in the dark and stay the course set by the previous administration that they are always so quick to blame.

By now it seems common knowledge that Dwight and Co. do not consider honesty and integrity to be part of their job description. They are fully committed to the spin and no matter how many times they say that they inherited the project, they can’t deny that they have failed to take any meaningful action on the file since they took over the reins. If they can lie or stay silent on things that are so obvious to so many, it leaves people scratching their heads and wonder what else they might be hiding. It’s time for the people to demand that the premier come clean.

Go Home Out of It

Go Home Out of It

By: Ryan Young

The ongoing feud between former premiers Roger Grimes and Danny Williams got raised up another notch last week with an indirect war of words between the two former political heavyweights. Williams was making headlines with his speech to the St. John’s Board of Trade while Grimes was speaking out to the media, with both men coming to very different conclusions.

You can’t really blame Roger Grimes for taking his chance to get in a few shots. The man was dragged through the mud and back again during the 2003 election and campaign and for years afterwards by an angry Williams who was resentful that Grimes could hang on as premier for so long without ever being elected to that high post. Cummupins were a long time coming for Ole Grimey, but with the facts we now know about Danny’s legacy, Muskrat Falls, Roger Grimes has been eager to let the public know that despite all the mud-slinging, Danny didn’t know best after all.

In a recent CBC story, Grimes calls Muskrat Falls “the price of pride.” He maintains that his government was very close to reaching an agreement with Hydro Quebec to develop Gull Island, but that the deal was nixed after the election because Williams was unwilling to deal with Quebec. He refers to the Maritime Link as an “extension cord across the gulf,” and blasts Danny’s vision as being a short-sighted and petty “screw you” to La Belle Province that never made any economic sense.

Williams fired back in his Board of Trade speech by assuring us all that Muskrat is indeed a good deal, but the benefits will not be realized until years down the road. He rationalized mitigating electricity rates by saying that we only had to extend the debt terms and use profits from Nalcor to keep rates down to manageable levels. It all sounds very well and good when you listen to Danny go on in his great oratory style, but when you look a little deeper, things begin to fall apart. For starters, Nalcor has not returned one cent of dividends for the province since it was created by Williams in 2007, and any future revenue will come from the rate payers who will be forced to buy Muskrat power at outlandish prices. As for extending the debt schedule, that is all fine and good for the now, but do we really want to push any more of that debt along to our children and grandchildren? Muskrat Falls is not, and never has been a good deal, no matter how much Danny may try to spin it that way.

Just why are we listening to Danny Williams and Roger Grimes anyway? Both men have had their time in the sun, and are long past the time that they should be bowing out of the public eye. Yes, Danny wants to do his best to convince us all that his legacy project is anything other than what it actually is, a big mistake, but no amount of speeches can contradict the realities that the common folk will now face because Danny likes a good gamble. Grimes wants to enjoy the “I told you so” for as long as he can, and you really can’t blame him after the abuse he took, but you have to wonder if he might have been better served by doing his gloating on the inside and letting history settle the score for him instead of taking every possible opportunity to speak-out against his old political nemesis.

Its time for Danny and Roger to bow out and give up on the game. They each had their turn and they will each have to let the years decide who was the better premier. The petty back and forth between two grown men just highlights how much of a joke #nlpoli has really become. When you have two former premiers going toe to toe on an issue, while the current premier stands back and enjoys the brief distraction, you really have to wonder what the hell is going on in this province.

What we need right now is strong leadership and accountability. Dwight Ball promised both in abundance, but has delivered on neither. If Muskrat is such a good project and the North Spur is really nothing to worry about, then show us the data and open the books. It doesn’t have to be so shady, all you have to do is tell the truth and let people see for themselves. Instead we are treated to a great big game of egos and we never get any closer to the truth. We don’t need the egos of two former premiers hanging over this project any longer. It’s time for the by’s to go home out of it and leave their legacies for history to decide.

C’mon Stan, Show a Little Class

C’mon Stan, Show a Little Class

By: Ryan Young

Nalcor CEO, Stan Marshall, announced last Friday that there would likely be ice damage to structures at Muskrat Falls this winter, and placed the blame squarely at the feet of protesters. According to Marshall, Nalcor simply “ran out of time” to install the ice boom needed to protect the site from the harsh Labrador weather, mainly due to the actions of protesters last October. Marshall’s blame game starts to lose credibility, however, when you consider that the land protectors only occupied the Muskrat site for four days. Even if you give him the full two-week disruption that he claims, that still does not account for why Nalcor was unable to get things done in time to avoid the winter freeze. Considering the track record of the work at the site, this latest delay seems par for the course.

The real culprit behind the delay is not the protests, but rather the leaky cofferdam. Without the cofferdam being fully functional, they are unable to raise water levels high enough to facilitate the installation of the boom. Despite Nalcor’s assurances that the cofferdam is not a serious issue, the fact that they have not been able to fix the problem suggests that it may be bigger than they are letting on. When you factor in Marshall’s deflective comments, in addition to the quickly advancing winter, all signs point to some very big problems at Muskrat Falls.

With the Nalcor CEO publicly blaming the people of Labrador and telling us to expect damage at the site, we should stop and take a closer look at what is really going on. Very little of the “progress” at Muskrat Falls has come easy, and none of it has come cheap. With so many issues in the process so far, it is not unreasonable to think that there may have been some serious flaws with either the cofferdam design or its construction. It must feel like another kick in the face to the people of Labrador from the big boot of Nalcor to be blamed for yet another failure in the construction process. With the cofferdam leaking and the project going even further behind schedule due to construction issues, is it any wonder that so many people are worried about the North Spur?

It s no secret that Nalcor has zero experience with large hydro developments. The head of the Lower Churchill project, Gilbert Bennett, came from Danny’s cable circle to oversee a project that would make or break our province. Ed Martin had no hydro experience either. He was a middle manager at Petro Canada before Danny tapped him for the top job at Nalcor. Now of course we have Stan Marshall in the CEO chair, with his decades of dam building experience, but Gil Bennett is still managing the project and the same contracts and designs are still in place that were there under Ed Martin. If someone like Stan had been there from the start, someone who knew how to build a dam, then maybe things might have turned out differently. As it stands now though, Stan Marshall is little more than a figurehead to appease the public and try to get a handle on some of the ballooning costs.

The cofferdam issue is just the latest in a long line of blunders that has led to this project being years behind schedule and billions over-budget. Marshall knows how bad things are with the project, but his corporate instincts tell him to shift the blame and drive the wedge. That tactic has been working well enough in Labrador for centuries, so why stop now? Maybe instead of giving him full autonomy, Dwight Ball could have included in his mandate a little bit of sensitivity towards the people who will have their lives irrecoverably changed by this project. After all of the issues that we have seen with the construction at Muskrat Falls, to see Marshall play off the first major blunder under his watch as the fault of a four-day protest is just plain embarrassing. Maybe someone should tell Dwight that it he is going to convince the folks in Labrador that he really cares about them, he might want to talk to Marshall about toning down the rhetoric and showing a little class.

Silent Stan and the Chalillo Boondoggle

Silent Stan and the Chalillo Boondoggle

By: Ryan Young

 “Silent Stan” Marshall, has finally broken his silence. In a lengthy interview with CBC this week, the Nalcor CEO offered his opinions on the recent protests and the potential dangers associated with the Muskrat Falls project. Many people, especially in Labrador, were not happy with his comments, but let’s be perfectly clear; Stan Marshall was never brought in to worry about the concerns of the people of Labrador. Nor was he brought in to address the peoples concerns about methylmercury or the north spur. Stan was brought in for one reason, and one reason only, to get the finances of the project back on track. His experience comes from the boardroom of an energy giant where decisions are made based on profit-margins, not heath or the environment. Stan Marshall has certainly had a long and successful career as a dam builder, but before we question his recent comments, we need to understand his position.

Stan Marshall was brought in to try to get the ballooning cost of the Muskrat Falls mega-project under control, while at the same time restoring the faith of the people in the leadership at Nalcor. He was outspoken against the project in the past, saying that he did not think it was a good idea, and he said he felt it was his duty to help the province get the project back on track. By all accounts he has been doing just that, albeit behind the scenes. Negotiations with Astadli have been ongoing, and yesterday it was announced that the federal government would be providing an additional $2.9 Billion on the loan guarantee. For Stan Marshall, this was never about clearing more soil or opening the north spur analysis to outside scrutiny. It was simply about trying to lessen the overall impact of Muskrat Falls on the provincial treasury.

When Stan Marshall comes out and says that he does not expect that any soil will be cleared from the reservoir, he is saying it from a business perspective. That is what the man knows. Methylmercury is just the cost of doing the dam business. As a CEO, it has never been his job to worry about the relationships between people and governments. It is curious to hear him challenge people to prove that there have been adverse health effects from the Upper Churchill reservoir, when fish consumption advisories have been in place in the area for decades, but that is what the CEO of the company building the dam is expected to say. It’s just the way the world works. We know that the science is very clear on the effects of methylmercury, but since when does science factor in to decisions made at the boardroom level? The only language the people in those positions speak is dollars and cents.

Make no mistake, the reservoir will be flooded to the minimum level in the very near future, no matter what comes of the meetings being held in Labrador this week. Winter is already upon the big land and there is no way that Stan is going to be willing to risk further delay and cost due to ice damage. While he says that he fully supports the agreement between the premier and indigenous leaders, his language makes it quite clear that he does not believe that the protesters concerns are valid and he does not expect to honor any commitment to clear topsoil from the reservoir. This has caused Opposition MHA, Barry Petten, to question if the premier and the CEO of Nalcor are on the same page when it comes to methylmercury concerns. Since Marshalls interview we have not had any comment from the premier.

So, what are we to think? Some in Labrador are already talking about feeling betrayed by Marshall’s comments and many have vowed to stand-up again if the province reneges on its deal. There is much uncertainty in Labrador right now as people are waiting to see what their leaders will say. It would not take much to send people back to the site to shut it down again, and certainly neither Nalcor nor the government wants that to happen. Stan has a job to do, after all.

Trust Stan. That has been the word from the government since Marshall took over as Nalcor CEO last spring. It kind of sounded like the “Trust Ed” kind of talk we were given for years by the previous administration, with the one obvious difference being that Stan actually knows a thing or two about building dams. But did anyone stop to look at Stan’s track record? While much of it is certainly impressive from a business and profit perspective, his record is far from perfect. Remember when he called Muskrat Falls a boondoggle? It was certainly an interesting choice of words to use as Marshall had heard them before. In 2002, environmental lawyer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., called Fortis’ Chalillo dam project on the Macal River in Belize, “The worst boondoggle I have seen in two decades as an environmental lawyer.”

The Chalillo dam made headlines worldwide for the amount of controversy related to the tiny 7MW project that Fortis was building under its local subsidiary Belize Electricity Limited (BEL).  The area that was flooded contained the only known nesting site in Belize for the rare Scarlet Macaw as well as habitat for endangered jaguars, tapirs, and howler monkeys. Celebrities such as Harrison Ford and Princess Anne raised public concerns about the project and environmentalists and biologists from all over the world condemned the damming of the Macal River.

The whole project was mired in controversy with allegations that there was a cover up by Fortis and engineering firm, AMEC, to suppress data that questioned the feasibility of the dam. In an editorial in 2013, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. goes even further, accusing Fortis of digitally removing visible fault lines from satellite photographs to suppress the local earthquake risk. This information did not come out until after the dam was complete. He also alleges that BEL lied about its claims that it would not harm endangered wildlife habitat, and that it withheld information about methylmercury contamination downstream from another one of its nearby dams. Sound familiar?

On top of all that, BEL promised that the project would not raise electricity rates for local customers, but in 2005, 2 years after the dam went live, electricity rates rose by 25%. A few years later BEL became insolvent and attempted to raise rates again by 25%, threatening to implement rolling blackouts if they were not allowed to charge higher rates. With local electricity rates already double that of neighboring countries, the Government of Belize rejected the idea and in 2011 it decided to expropriate BEL and the Chalillo Dam.

The expropriation of the Chalillo dam led to a long court battle between Fortis and the Government of Belize. It was ultimately settled in 2015 with the government having to pay Fortis $35 Million US dollars and return a 33% stake in the company. This settlement came not long after Barry Perry had taken over as CEO after Marshall’s retirement. Marshall was not willing to let the government off so easy and had been holding out for a $300 Million payment, plus damages. Since the takeover, however, BEL has been stabilized and electricity rates have been reduced to a new modern low. The government has worked closely with its partners to restructure the company back onto a sound footing.

Now, what can we take away from the Chalillo story? It certainly highlights how a corporation can be willing to bend the facts and do what it takes to make sure that pet projects see the light of day. The withholding of information and misleading of the public and the government that was witnessed in Belize sounds eerily familiar to the situation here with Nalcor. When you start to look at it from that angle, it is easy to see why Stan Marshall was the right man for the job. Stan is a man who gets things done. He doesn’t worry about pesky protesters or governments with cold feet. Stan was given a job to do and he fully intends to do it. It has been made quite clear that the project will not be stopped, and all Stan is worried about now is getting the project finished by 2020, without topping out over $15 Billion. This was what he was hired to do.

So, as much as we all want to hate on Stan Marshall right now, try to remember that the man is only doing the job he was asked to do. The real culprit is the government, who tried to sell us on the fact that one man could somehow come in and make this project magically right. The government does not care about the protesters anymore than Stan does, but they don’t have the will to face the people and say it. That is why the ball was put in Marshall’s court this week and Dwight has been silent again. They might have been wise to keep Stan’s muzzle on until next week when the flooding is done and the amount of damage that could be done by another occupation of the camp would be minimized. People in Labrador were already skeptical, and Marshall has only added fuel to the fire. But Stan knows that he was not put there to answer to the people of Labrador, he was put there to get this project done. The CEO and the Board of Directors may have changed, but it is still business as usual at Nalcor. Until government is willing to take a real stand and bring some transparency back to the company through an independent audit and a real hard look at the science and economics of Muskrat Falls don’t expect anything to change soon, or at all. Full steam ahead.

Muskrat Accountability

Muskrat Accountability

By: Ryan Young

Here is a question I have to ask: If Muskrat Falls is so bad that everybody refuses to take accountability for it, why don’t we just scrap the whole damn thing? I am not the first person to point out the strangeness of many of the #MakeMuskratRight protesters saying that they don’t want the project stopped entirely. I am sure many people feel that we have too much invested to turn back now, but with the final cost likely to be double what we have already spent, and the questions surrounding the north spur and methylmercury, it is hard to justify the reasoning that we must forge ahead at any cost. None of our political parties are willing to take the bull by the horns and demand a real stop/go analysis of the project, and the Liberals and PC's seem to be entrenched in a never-ending game of who-done-it.

So, just who do we blame for the boondoggle that is Muskrat Falls? At the PC Annual General Meeting last weekend, we heard that their party was not responsible for the current issues with the project. This revelation was met with much eye-rolling and public scrutiny, as is to be expected. This was after all the party of Danny and Kathy, who were determined to push this project through no matter what the cost. For them to take such a stand is laughable, and none but the most partisan blues are buying it.

Whenever we ask the current Liberal government about it they shrug and remind us they didn’t sanction the project. This past weekend, some Liberal MHA’s were sharing a new website that mysteriously appeared at the height of public outrage at the Liberal inaction of the situation in Labrador, highlighting the Muskrat Falls timeline from 2005 until just before the Liberals took office in 2015.

www.thanksmuskrat.com is full of quotes from current and former PC’s, and appears to be a hyper-partisan attempt to shift the heat that the government has been taking back onto the Tories. While the Liberals will deny any involvement in the website, its timing and content would make that appear to be suspect at best. They think the people have forgotten who started this mess, but they are wrong. The people remember quite well, which is why the PC party was reduced to just 7 seats last November. The people know full well who got us here, but they also know that they elected a new government to make things right. This latest move forces us to question if this government is only there to point fingers or if they actually plan to make any meaningful changes to the Muskrat Falls project.

Then we have others who like to blame the NDP and anyone else that was not crying foul of Muskrat Falls from the very minute that the words came out of King Danny’s mouth. Those who would say that if you were not there opposing the project in 2010, you have no business opposing it now. That is a very weak argument considering the many revelations that have come to the public’s attention over the past year or two. When it became clear that Nalcor had not been honest with the people on several issues, we began to wonder what else they might be lying about.

So, who do we blame for this monstrosity of a pickle we have gotten ourselves into? Not many members of the media were printing negative stories about the project in the beginning. Most people were too happy to be finally getting a one-up on the Quebec boogeyman to take a real hard look at the economics or the environmental aspects of the project. Those who did were written off as nay-sayers with their own agendas. Ed Hollett, Clyde Wells’ former EA, was a legendary Danny Hater. Cabot Martin, Dave Vardy, and Des Sullivan were the disgruntled Peckford Tories who were shut out of Danny’s government, Brad Cabana was written off as a Danny hater and a crack-pot, and many others were dismissed and ignored. Despite what your opinions of any of these people might be, they have all contributed to the ongoing Muskrat Falls discussion and have been instrumental in bringing the realities of the project into the public eye. All of these people were largely ignored by the media and the public at large for years. It is only now that the facts about the project are finally emerging that we are collectively realizing what a mess we have gotten ourselves into, and that many of the so-called nay-sayers were right all along.

Over and over we were told to trust Nalcor’s world class experts and science. We were told that the project was the only one that made sense, and that we were on-track to bring Newfoundland and Labrador energy independence. The economy was doing very well at the time Muskrat was announced, and most people were too busy working and enjoying being a “have” province to pay close attention to the handful of people who were daring to go against Danny Williams. Nalcor assured us all that science was sound and that there would be no negative impacts from methylmercury, no safety issues from the north spur, and cost overruns would be minimal.

Former Nalcor CEO Ed Martin told us blatant lies about how the contracts were let for Muskrat Falls. He said that they had used fixed-price contracts, but then later denied that statement and told us that the contracts we not actually fixed at all. This is one of the major reasons that cost overruns have greatly increased since construction began. Neither Martin, nor Lower Churchill head, Gilbert Bennett have ever been involved in a project like this before, yet we were told time and again to blindly trust their leadership without any public transparency or government oversight. Earlier this year, Stan Marshall was brought in to bring the project back on track, but other than to tell us that Muskrat was a boondoggle, silent Stan has been nowhere to be seen. As the project encounters even more problems and costs continue to skyrocket, we are being asked to blindly trust Stan. Sound familiar?

We all know that the PC’s sanctioned this project and basically gave Nalcor a blank cheque and free reign to do as it saw fit. A total lack of government oversight on the project allowed unqualified leaders at Nalcor to let things spiral out of control with not nearly enough attention paid to the economics and environmental concerns. A questionable company, Astaldi, was brought in to construct the dam, and the entire construction process has been mired in delay and controversy right from the start. Yet, if you look at the PC twitter feeds, you would swear that they were never involved in the project at all. Unless of course you ask them if it is still a good project. Then they are quick to defend Danny’s legacy and blame the current Liberal mismanagement for all of the current issues at Muskrat Falls.

No doubt, the Tories have had an easy time in opposition, with new ammo being served up on a silver platter by government almost daily, but their time in the wilderness does not seem to have given them much time for contemplation on how they ended up swept from power last fall. If the PC party is really serious about renewal, a good place to start might be take a long, hard look at how they got where they are in the first place. The Tory arrogance that people were so fed up with leading up to the last election has not gone anywhere, and trying to shift the blame for Muskrat Falls to the Liberals is not earning them any points from anyone but their own partisans.

And where is Wade Locke these days? The MUN economist was long the PC’s champion “expert” in justifying the business case for sanctioning the project. Locke assured us that oil prices would remain at record highs long into the future, and that the only option to be considered was Muskrat Falls. The words “lowest cost option” were thrown around so much that they lost all meaning to anyone who was listening. When asked by Pete Soucy when the project would no longer be the best cost option, Locke put the number at about $8 Billion. You would think that statement should have raised more eyebrows. Surely they must have anticipated cost overruns in such a remote construction location. With a ceiling of $8 Billion, they were left with very little wiggle room from the start. Now that oil is trading at less than $50 a barrel and cost overruns have but the project at $12 Billion and growing, it would be nice to hear Mr. Locke tell us at what point it makes sense to pull the plug.

That brings us back around to our current Liberal government. Yes it is true that they voted against the sanctioning of the project, but don’t read too much into that. Voting against a majority government is what opposition parties do. The real litmus test came when the Liberals took over last fall and were handed the keys to the Muskrat castle. We were given lots of words like “oversight” and “accountability,” but we didn’t really see any of those things, or any changes to the project. Pulling the plug was never on the table for the Liberals, and neither was further clearing of the reservoir to mitigate against methylmercury concerns until the protests got so loud. Instead the government followed the same template as their predecessors and kept Nalcor firmly in the driver’s seat. Finance Minister (and former PC supporter) Cathy Bennett sat on the board of directors at Nalcor and was accused of conflicts of interest regarding business contracts related to Muskrat Falls. It comes as no surprise that despite her harsh words for Nalcor in the budget speech, that she and her colleagues in cabinet were quite content for the project to keep moving along, business as usual. Unfortunately for her and the rest of the Liberals, that didn’t happen, and we were left with the Ed Martin severance fiasco, the mass resignation of the Nalcor board, and the nationwide protests that our premier assured us had no bearing at all on governments decision.

The Ed Martin debacle was a golden opportunity for the Liberals to break Nalcor and Muskrat Falls wide open. They could have opened things up to the public and let us see the extent of the mismanagement at our crown energy corporation. They could have ensured that the public fully realized the mess that the project became under the PC’s and would have earned an enormous amount of political capital without having to take any ownership for Muskrat Falls. Instead they chose to bumble and delay, and make themselves look like they were trying to hide everything from the public. For several days, last spring, each time the premier opened his mouth, lies came out. Instead of taking a golden opportunity to come out swinging and throw the PC’s under the bus, they decided to take ownership of all that negativity, and put themselves in a very tough position.  It makes one wonder what, or who, they might be protecting?

That brings us right back to where we started. Who do we blame for Muskrat Falls? The answer is certainly not black and white, and the blame runs deep. Danny, Kathy and the PC’s part played their part, as did Nalcor and its board and executives. The Liberal and NDP opposition of the day didn’t do enough to bring science and evidence into their political opposition to the project. The people have been too trusting of government, Nalcor, and the media to bring them the facts about the project. And now, the current government has not provided any degree of acceptable leadership to restore the faith of the people in the reasoning for finishing this project. It is easy to point the finger of blame and find a target when it comes to Muskrat Falls, but now that it has become crystal clear that this government has no intentions of stopping the project altogether, we need to stop talking about blame and start talking about responsibility.

The premier can stand in front of the province and say that he did not sanction the project and that his government inherited this boondoggle, but at this point those things no longer matter. The day he was sworn in as premier, he took responsibility for Muskrat Falls, and it is his responsibility now to make sure the concerns of the people are heard. The poor planning and management has continued under the leadership of Ball and Marshall, and the premier has dithered on each and every issue he has encountered. This has caused him to keep getting backed into corners and appearing weak whenever there are questions about his leadership. What we need is for our government to tell us the truth and stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes on Muskrat Falls like the previous administration did for so long. It was this attitude that pushed the PC’s back into the political wilderness, and the way things are going, the Liberals are very likely in for a similar fate.

All the blame in the world cannot hide the fact that the Liberals hold the power now. They have the numbers and the science in their hands and they have had more than enough time to develop a real plan for Muskrat Falls. The premier can stand at the microphone and say that the protests had nothing to do with the recent agreement with indigenous leaders, but we all know that this government failed to act until they were backed into a corner, again. Even then, he was quick to point the finger of blame, and suggested that we were asking the wrong premier questions about Muskrat Falls. Well here is some advice for our premier. Real leadership is not about pointing fingers and ducking out back doors. It is about meeting problems head-on and making decisions, even when they are hard or unpopular. It is about engaging the people who are desperately seeking your leadership on important issues, even when you know they wont agree with you. And most importantly it is about standing up for what is right and good, and inspiring others to follow you and to believe in you.

Does Dwight Ball have what it takes to be a real leader? I won’t attempt to answer that, but I do know that our premier has done very little to inspire confidence in our people. How can we believe in him, when he has not done or said anything to give us something to believe in? At this point we are left to judge on the track record so far, and for that, the 20% approval ratings might be generous. It is time for our premier and our government to stop playing the blame game and to stand up and lead this province. We can no longer afford to look to our past, the time has come to start looking to the future. So please Mr. Premier, stop playing the blame game and start leading.

The Waiting Game

The Waiting Game

By: Ryan Young

It has been a long night and I am still trying to process the events of the last 24 hours. After a marathon meeting between government and aboriginal leaders, and an accompanying protest on the steps of Confederation Building, an agreement has been reached on the methylmercury issue at Muskrat Falls.

Confederation Building was on lockdown for more than 12 hours. Media were left not-so-patiently waiting inside for word, with not much to do but tweet and listen to the jovial atmosphere of the protesters and land protectors singing and dancing outside on the front steps. The numbers outside fluctuated between 50 and 100 for most of the day and night, despite the cold. They were all waiting for word on how the government would deal with the situation at Muskrat Falls.

In a statement released to media just before 2am, the leaders have agreed to review the documentation provided by Nalcor that supports the need for immediate initial impoundment of the reservoir over the next few days. If they are satisfied that the reasons provided by Nalcor are legitimate, water levels will be raised to minimum acceptable levels.

In addition, the statement says that Nalcor will release the dam in the spring when environmental hazards are no longer an issue, and allow the river to return to its natural flow which will facilitate the opportunity for additional mitigation procedures that MAY include clearing trees, vegetation, and/or soil from the reservoir.

All parties also agreed to establish an Independent Expert Advisory Committee that will include representatives from all levels of government, as well as all Labrador indigenous governments and councils. This committee will be mandated to seek an independent, evidence-based approach that will determine and recommend options for mitigating human health concerns related to methylmercury.

At this point, there are still many unanswered questions, and I expect that the government will be speaking out over the next few days to try to clarify what the agreement means. Initial reactions from protesters and land protectors were not all positive, but most are waiting for more clarification. The hunger strikers in Ottawa seemed to be initially pleased with the agreement, with a picture on twitter showing them with arms raised, with the caption “we won.” I am sure reaction will continue to be mixed in the days to come as government-speak gets translated into layman English and we start to understand what it all means.

I am not sure if this will convince land protectors on-site at Muskrat Falls to stop their peaceful protest and go home, but I expect that many are waiting on their lead before passing judgement on the agreement. With a court order forcing the departure of The Independent journalist, Justin Brake, from the camp on Tuesday, there has been very little word getting out to the public on what is happening inside the camp. Most likely phones will be ringing through the night as people on all sides try to figure things out.

Some of the questions already being asked are; “How high are the minimum acceptable levels for flooding?” Will methylmercury levels spike immediately after impoundment as suggested by Harvard?” Will the cold weather impact methylmercury production?” “Will the release of the dam in the spring cause an immediate spike in methylmercury in Lake Melville?” “What about the North Spur?” These are all legitimate questions and they must be answered along with many more before people are willing to accept this agreement and stand down.

In the last week, we have witnessed Muskrat Falls go from a local issue to a national and international issue. People in high places are paying attention, and every statement and decision is being examined under a microscope. People are skeptical of trusting the government and/or Nalcor, and neither one of them has given the people much reason to alleviate that skepticism.  The next day or two will be key for the government in getting its message and its evidence out to the public both quickly and clearly. The people have made it quite clear that they will not stand for back-door politics and the premier and his ministers will need to be very public and up-front about the situation, no matter which way it goes for them with the protesters and the land protectors.

As for what will happen next, we will have to wait and see. If the land protectors are satisfied that the agreement is a fair compromise and leave the work-site at Muskrat Falls things will settle down a bit for the time being with energies likely being focused on holding the local and provincial governments to task and continuing to discuss the safety of the north spur. If they are not satisfied, the government will have to decide on using police to forcefully remove them and protests will likely escalate in Labrador, on the island, and across the country. It will be a tense few days ahead, but all we can do now is watch and wait and see how the situation unfolds.

Starving for Justice

Starving for Justice

By: Ryan Young

Inuk artist Billy Gauthier is on a hunger strike to stop the flooding of the Muskrat Falls reservoir. His last meal was last Thursday evening, October 13^th. It was salmon from Lake Melville. Gauthier, 38 is well known for his carving work. His pieces are a mesmerizing blend of culture and nature, and Billy’s talent is showcased in the fine details of his carvings. Billy is a son, a brother and a father, with a daughter he loves dearly. Yet Billy is willing to risk his life in order to make sure that his people and his culture are not put at risk by the Muskrat Falls project. That kind of commitment is hard to understand for many people, but when you consider Billy’s alternatives, his choice does not seem as drastic.

Billy Gauthier - "Windswept Inuk"

Billy Gauthier - "Song from the Spirit World"

You can see more of Billy's work here:
http://www.spiritwrestler.com/catalog/index.php?artists_id=568

Billy is currently among the land protectors at the Muskrat Falls site. Yesterday he watched 9 of his friends and family members dragged away and charged by the RCMP for ignoring a court injunction that was signed by Gilbert Bennett of Nalcor on Sunday October 16. In Happy Valley-Goose Bay another group shut down the offices of the premier and Perry Trimper for the day, demanding that the reservoir is cleared. Not long after, President of the Nunatukavut Government, Todd Russell, held a press conference to announce that they would support all actions, including the blocking of Transformers from entering any ports on the Labrador coast. When given a copy of the court injunction, Russell promptly tore it up and pledged that he was committed to the fight to make muskrat right.

On the other end of the province, in St. John’s, yet another group marched on Confederation Building to demand that the voices of Labrador be heard. A small group held a peaceful sit-in in the lobby of the legislature and demanded that someone speak to them about there concerns. For nearly 8 hours they occupied the lobby, despite being prevented from going to the bathroom by security. Shortly after the occupation began the building went into lockdown mode with only staff and visitors on official business were permitted entry to the building. Even the media were barred from entering. Only VOCM’s David Maher was inside the building prior to the lockdown and he was inside for the duration. The group was later served with a court injunction but they left without incident just after 4:00pm when it became apparent that nobody was willing to speak to them. For more details, follow David Maher on Twitter @DavidMaherNL.

With the action ramping up all across the province, Yvonne Jones announced that federal minister Dominic Leblanc had been asked to review the environmental permits issues to the Government of Newfoundland and Nalcor as part of the federal loan guarantee for the project. We are not sure exactly what it means, but some on social media have speculated that the feds could possibly make the loan guarantee contingent on the clearing of the reservoir. Now of course at this point this is all just speculation, and it does not jive with recent statements from Perry Trimper and Siobhan Coady. The premier, as usual, is silent.

With Nalcor already beginning to seep water in, we have gone well beyond the 11^th hour.

All across Labrador and the island, people are standing up to say that they will not stand for the willful poisoning of our people and the destruction of their lands and culture. Support is rolling in from all corners for Billy and the rest of the land protectors. Despite the setbacks and the arrests, people in Labrador are still hopeful that the feds will step in and residents from all over have been showing their support for Billy and to make muskrat right. Billy’s struggle is seen as an inspiration to many, and support for his cause has been coming in from all over the world. He is making so many people proud of him, but we must not forget the great sacrifice he is making for us.

During an emotional interview with Paddy Daly on VOCM yesterday, Billy said that his daughter asked him if he was scared? His answer blew my mind. “He said yes, but that’s what bravery is. When you know something is right and you still do it anyway, no matter how scared you are.” Those are certainly very true words and the commitment in Billy’s voice is inspirational, while being heartbreaking at the same time. Billy Gauthier has suddenly become a symbol for everything that is wrong in Labrador and a celebration of everything that is right with it. After living away, Billy returned to Labrador so that he could embrace his culture and his native land to inspire his art and provide him with a living. To take that away from him is to take away his heart, his soul.

No matter what your political stripe or no matter how informed you are of the realities of the Muskrat Falls project, it is impossible to listen to Billy speak without getting a little wet-eyed. His passion is undeniable and he is willing to give his life to save the traditional way of life for others. We must all stand in solidarity with Billy now and demand that our elected leaders change their minds and commit to #makemuskratright.

Mother and Child at HVGB protest

To listen to Billy's VOCM call with Paddy Daly click here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7gI6rpBuw4